ABOUT THIS SECTION:

Human
beings have physical, emotional, familial, social and economic health.
Insights into one's personality serves as much as a doctor's
prescription. Knowing somebody's personal life experiences may give as
much strength as a promotion at workplace. So, in this section, we
provide original articles and stories from people and professionals from all walks of life. The
uniqueness of these writings lies in the respective author's real life
experiences which, we hope, will bring about
positive changes in the reader's way of leading a healthy life.

REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE BASED ARTICLES & STORIES:

1.How an illiterate father enlightened his would-be-blind son's life

A young boy, at an age of 14 years,was diagnosed with an eye problem due to which he was certain to gradually lose his eyesight to become completely blind in the following few years. His father, an illiterate farmer was concerned for his son's future. His only thought was to make his son economically independent for his lifetime.

So, this father started training his son about techniques of making tasty pickles. He arranged the ingredients in a particular way, blindfolded his son and made him to practice the accuracy of picking up the right ingredient in right amount.

Over next few years, while the boy kept loosing his sight, he got better and better in making quality and tasty pickles. By the time he was blind, he was an expert. His fellow villagers did the rest - brought him the raw materials (he paid for it, of course) and sold his produce in the local market.

This lad gradually gained fame for his pickles locally and so thought of enhancing the quantity of his produce. This is when he met my colleague at our office, a place for facilitating government's financial aides for specially abled individuals to help them set-up small businesses. My colleague initially didn't believe his story. But he had to - when he visited the boy's pickle making site at his farm. The boy got his government aide. He was now an entrepreneur!

This is a story from my first job. Many years on, the father, the son, the villagers - all keep inspiring me through tough times.Hope, it will serve you as well!

(Author: Ravi Shankar. Write to him at birdsbeakphysiotherapy@yahoo.in)